I have received some inquiries lately asking if I am still offering coaching. Yes, most definitely. And still at the introductory price. The details are on this page.
Sometimes, we have all the knowledge we need. I know a lot of you have read the Thin Within book, done all the workbooks, read Get Thin Stay Thin and have been on the Thin Within website for a while. I know, too, that some of you know that this approach works.
What you may feel like you are missing is support. That is what I want to offer you. That is one reason why I offer videos and blog posts here at this site. As you know, much of the blog content chronicles my own journey to release 100 pounds using these principles. Many of the posts and videos, though, I did specifically with you in mind.
Blog posts and videos can be really helpful (I hope!), but sometimes we need someone to walk with us. That is why I am offering the coaching option. I know you can do this! Whatever is holding you back, we can hurdle it together.
This is how it works:
1. When you contact me with your inquiry, I will respond in email.
2. We will arrange our first phone call which is 30 minutes in length. This is free so you can get a sense of if you think this may help you or not. It also gives you a chance to see if we connect in a way that you are comfortable with.
3. Before that first free call, I ask you to consider these questions:
What is your story relative to food and body image?
What is your experience with Thin Within?
What have been the hurdles you have faced in applying the principles?
How have you attempted to manage these hurdles?
What victories have you experienced in applying the principles?
What challenges seem to be a theme for you?
What are your goals physically, spiritually, and emotionally relative to this journey?
What expectations do you have for our four sessions?
What else do you feel is important for me to know?
4. During our first call, we will talk about the things on the list above. I will offer you feedback, some insights, and thoughts that I hope will encourage you. I will then ask you how you feel about going forward. You can take time after the call to decide this, of course. There is no obligation whatsoever. One of the things I will ask you to consider, too, is if you feel one of three different levels of accountability (or a personalized accountability plan) might be helpful. This is not required, but some find it helpful.
5. If you decide that you would like to proceed, then we can work out payment in one of two ways. You can either send me a check and we can start after I receive and cash your check or you can pay me via pay pal.
6. I will shoot you an email giving you a “first assignment.” The assignments will be prayerfully constructed to suit you and your specific situation. I will always eagerly receive your feedback so we can personalize this experience for you. For instance, some may need to invite God back into this process and want accountability that includes quiet time with the Lord. An assignment for this person might be to eat only when at a 0, but to read a psalm (or portion of a psalm) each time before eating, praising God for His character and that he has made her body to be so reliable. Another person may feel she needs to work through some forgiveness issues and I will ask her how she feels about doing that. That person, I may ask to do the material in chapters 19 and 20 (on forgiveness) in the Thin Within book. Those who are struggling to break free from a dieting mentality will be given different assignments from those who have been free from that for a while. Together we will craft a unique approach for you that shows you that you can be victorious.
7. We will use our calendars to set up our calls, hopefully for the next four weeks.
Each week you will be offered a unique assignment and each call we will talk about the assignment and anything else that you feel is pertinent.
I know just how much of a struggle this journey was for me (and can still BE!), but if *I* can do it, ANYONE can! That means you! The thing that helped me the most was having someone who had been down this path ahead of me cheering me on, routing for me, and fielding questions I had along the way. That is what I hope to be for you. Give it some prayer and thought. I know $100 and four weeks is a commitment.
And if you wonder about the money and why I charge for this service at all, it is because I want to help my husband by contributing to defray the costs of having our daughter in a private Christian college. We will also be helping our son get established in a place of his own once he returns from bible college in May.
What questions do you have about the Life Coaching/Thin Within Mentoring service? I would be more than happy to field your questions here so others can benefit from your questions.
In addition, to renew your mind, I highly recommend Barb Raveling’s I Deserve a Donut app for iPad. My review on it can be found here.
Above all the tools and tricks, I encourage everyone who is at this place…rest, be still, let go of the weight focus. Fix your mind instead on the author and perfector of your faith. He is worth it. This is about so much more than body, weight, and food.
Jesus didn’t die so we would be thin. He died for us so that we might be HIS. Let’s not forget that.
I heard the call of a Red-Shafted Flicker today.These beautiful woodpeckers are “Heralds of Fall,” migrating to higher elevations in the summer and returning with the Autumn. The daytime temperatures may still soar in the 90s here at my home in the Sierra Nevada foothills, but night cools into the 50s. The lingering daylight of the summer months is no more.
My life, too, is in a new season. Homeschooled all their lives except for one year in a public school, my children have “migrated” to schools in other states. In June, my elderly mom took her last breath of Earth’s air and flew freely into eternity. With my care-taking responsibilities in the past, God is inviting me forward—to fresh adventure.
Is God calling me to focus more on writing and speaking in the months (years?) ahead? I sat still in His presence last week to listen to what he had to say to me about this. Instead of the sweetness of His presence, I was astounded by the noise in my head. I captured the monolog I spoke over myself:
Lord, is this really what you want? What if I am being arrogant? What if I am promoting self? Then I would be setting myself up for a big fall… you know that I don’t feel like I have much to offer. I just truly want to point out to any who will listen how awesome YOU are. I want to proclaim your praises. What if people think it is too Pollyanna-ish? What if they think my joy is fabricated? What if they think it is old news? What if they minimize just how powerful a transformation praise, gratitude, and forgiveness can cause in a life? What if they shoot the messenger because they don’t want to hear the message? I know many are in places that I can’t fathom. Those who have been hurt beyond belief or who are walking through trials. What about them? Is teaching that a life of praise is transformational…OFFENSIVE? I hate to wound, but I guess what I hate even more, Lord, is not being loved by others. I want them all to be excited by what I share. What if I think you have given me ideas to share…and what if I can’t organize them or finish them? Lord, what if the ideas I have aren’t good enough? What if they are only personal truths…and aren’t really as amazing as I think? What will people think…of me? I seem to be stuck in that rut of what people think a lot. That saturates my thinking. My greatest fear is that I have made up a “calling” to write and speak for selfish reasons. Yet I am not sure I even *like* the idea of writing and speaking and putting myself out there to be rejected! Lord, I am confused! What is YOUR will?
Not the best way to start a new season of life writing and speaking, huh? ☺ (I was due to leave to share at our women’s retreat in just three days’ time!) I just about convinced myself to forget the writing and speaking (the work) and, instead, go after the certification as a professional tennis instructor, teaching tennis (another opportunity that has opened up).
God led me to expose the lies in the monolog I was proclaiming over my life with an eye to what Scripture teaches. This shut down my defeated thinking–immediately!
What do you speak over your life? Are you like me? Do you speak lies over your life? How do you narrate your story? Do you, like me, defeat yourself? Is your loving, Heavenly Father challenging you to expose those lies and to replace them with truth—HIS truth, so that you might walk in what He wants for you?How about if you try it? Be it a new endeavor—a new hobby, ministry, vocation—or a long-held ambition. Picture yourself giving it a go. What do you have to say about yourself? Capture the noise in your head, the narration or monolog that you speak over your life. See if you are caught up in defeated thinking that God wants to stifle with his trump card of truth! Then speak truth in response!
NOTE: I edited this to reflect a change in day of the week. We will be meeting in the chat room on Wednesdays instead of Thursdays. Hope you can make it!
I am leading an online Thin Within group this summer through the Thin Within workbook material. The first orientation meeting will be June 15th and we will meet at the chat room at the Thin Within website.We will meet for chatting together from 4:30-5:30 pm Pacific Daylight Time each Wednesday evening beginning June 15th continuing through the first week in September.
(If you are a visual person and prefer a video telling you about this material, below you will find one. It isn’t particularly exciting, but it does give the low-down about the workbook!)
Here are some details (which I have shared in the past) telling about the Rebuilding God’s Temple Workbook Kit #1. If you have done this workbook before, you can still join the weekly chats starting June 15th and work through *any* of the Thin Within workbooks as they are all designed so that they all have the same lesson topics each week!
The first kit is the most comprehensive and comes with three pieces:
Workbook #1
The Temple Toolkit
The Memory Challenge Cards (click on the image to see a large version and click again to see it magnified further):
The contents of Kit #1
First, the workbook itself, is a spiral bound volume that has material for 12 weeks of study. To download a sample of the material, visit this link. The download is an Adobe Reader (.pdf) file of Week One – “Hope.” After you download it, print it and take a week to try it out! 🙂
Each week consists of the following:
Lesson material – This is dense written material that you will read to glean the concepts that we are teaching or reviewing during the week. I usually recommend about an hour spent with this, highlighting, asterisking, and looking up the verses in my own bible. I may even write comments in the margin or, if I am leading a group, questions to be sure to ask participants.
Each of the reading portions of the lesson are divided into these segments:
Introduction – a brief overview of the week’s focus
Spiritual Information – the relationship this material has to the Scriptures
Physiological Information – the “mechanics” — what you can actually doto make additional changes in your eating to honor the Lord
Integration – How it all works together
Exercises – Don’t worry! These aren’t calisthenics! LOL! They are basically guided daily quiet times. 🙂 Each week includes “exercises” for each day of the week. Days six and seven are optional and a bit “lighter.” Days one through five include the following sections:
Going Deeper – This relates some aspect of the lesson you have read to your life
Bible Study – This shows how Scripture illustrates or illuminates the principles taught in the lesson
Knowing God By Heart – One of the best parts, this is a study of the attributes of God. We have found that the way a participant views God impacts how she will view food, herself, her body, as well as her willingness (or not) to surrender this aspect of her life to the Lord for His purposes.
Getting Practical – These are suggestions for putting some of the mechanics of the program into practice
Memory Challenge – Hiding God’s Word in our hearts will enable us to be reminded of our commitment to him when we are weak! Memorizing scripture is extremely helpful for renewing our mind and changing our thinking!
Review of the Week – This provides a space where you can summarize what God has shown you or questions and thoughts you have had. This section is especially helpful when you meet with others in a group setting. 🙂
In addition to these resources in the workbook, there is an extensive Introduction at the beginning and Appendices in the back, providing a great deal of material that will support you on your journey.
But wait! There’s more! 🙂 (Couldn’t resist saying that!) Not only do you get the Workbook, but when you purchase the first kit, you also get the Temple Toolkit. This is a resource that offers a place for you to log your own journey throughout each day during the full twelve weeks. As you progress through the material, the pages change to match what you have learned in the workbook. Let me show you what I mean.
The first image below shows Days 25-28. Click on the image to see a larger version and then click again to see FULL size what these pages look like in the temple toolkit:
Days 25, 26, 27, 28 in the Temple Toolkit
As you progress through the workbook and new material is introduced, the Temple Toolkit changes, too:
Days 49, 50, 51, and 52 in Temple Toolkit
Again, click on the image above and then click again on the bigger image to see it full size. You will see new tools have been added.
Of course all of the tools are optionalas you go through the 12-week workbook. If you have come out of a background of excessive charting and graphing, you may only want to use the journaling pages. Or, as time goes on, you may experience freedom with one tool and not another. The Lord will lead each of us individually. Some have freedom to use all the tools, charts and graphs.
By the time you are closer to the end of the first twelve weeks, you will have been introduced to all of the tools. Note how the material in the toolkit has evolved:
Days 77, 78, 79 and 80 in Temple Toolkit
Again, “Wait! There’s more!” 🙂 When you order the first kit, you get not only the Workbook, the Temple Toolkit that changes as you go through the material, but you also get the Memory Challenge and Temptation Buster Cards:
Memory Challenge and Temptation Buster Cards
Again, click on the image above and the larger image, to get a full size view of what these include. You cut them up and can carry them with you so that Thin Within isn’t just a bible study that you begin in the morning and leave behind the rest of the day. These resources are very supportive in helping you to keep the principles that God is leading you to embrace and apply with you throughout the day.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says.
Anyone who listens to the word
but does not do what it says
is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and,
after looking at himself,
goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
~ James 1:22-24
We don’t want to just accumulate head knowledge, but then leave it behind for the rest of the day! We want to ACT on what we learn in our times of study and in God’s Word!
I realize that $45 is not a “bargain price” for a workbook alone, but I trust you will feel like it is worth it. This material includes three months of workbook material and exercises, as well as the Temple Toolkit which would probably cost $20 for something like that (if you could find such a thing!) separately. (It isn’t sold separately at Thin Within, so this is hypothetical!) Truthfully, with the money you save by eating less food :-), you will be able to afford a kit for yourself and a best friend, too! (Ok, so now I am taking my infomercial over the top…hope you are bearing with me! LOL! But it IS true!)
Thin Within isn’t a big company. No one has a salary. The proceeds from sales of the workbook go to cover the costs of producing these materials, keeping the Thin Within website functioning, other expenses (like the phone!), and small stipends for some of the Thin Within team members. So while the cost of $45 may seem steep, it isn’t padding anyone’s pocket. I am sure you will be pleased with the quality of the materials you receive. (Boy, do I ever sound like an advertisement today. Sorry about that! I just really believe in this material and am eager for the word to spread!)
One additional piece of information that many are unaware of is that there are 3 additional workbooks, each covering 12 weeks. The material is designed so that people who have gone through workbook #1 before, can do workbook #2 or #3 or #4, even while most in the group use workbook #1. Each of the workbooks are presented in 12 weekly themes that parallel each other. These are the themes for all four of the workbooks:
Hope
My Body–God’s Temple
Identity in Christ
Celebration of God’s Grace, Part One
Restoration
Counting the Cost
The Fight of Faith
Celebration of God’s Grace, Part Two
Building Godly Boundaries
Forgiveness
Prayer
Celebration of God’s Grace, Part Three
When the group is on week five, everyone will be studying, reviewing, learning about the theme of Restoration. This helps prevent the material from becoming stale! It is a great system that allows people of all experience levels to enjoy a group together, studying and reviewing together.
To order materials, call Thin Within 1-877-729-8932 (9:00am-5:00pm Eastern).
The group I will be leading starting June 16th is an “open” group. You can join the chat at any time. There will be more details to come here and at the Thin Within website. Hope you can join us, even if you will be traveling a lot this summer! You can still join us at your convenience! 🙂
“You are different from me. You love God. I have never loved God,” came the candid disclosure from one who embraces the gospel message, has studied and taught the truths of the Word, and shepherded God’s people.
“Do you want to love God?”
“Well, sure.”
From where I sit, wanting to love God more proves that you love God! Maybe not as much as you like, but if you really didn’t love God, then you wouldn’t care if you love him or not. Or that makes sense to me.
Can you identify with this honest Christian’s confession? Perhaps you know you love the Lord, but long to love Him even more.
Here are three things that continue to make a huge difference in my life, causing me to grow in my love for my Savior. I hope they might help you:
1.)I ask God to put a greater love for Him in my heart.
Years ago, as I watched a Beth Moore video, she admitted that she had prayed this prayer frequently after observing the love a friend/mentor displayed for the Lord. She longed to love the Lord that way. It certainly seems to have worked for Beth–she is clearly crazy about God! So I began to pray this…not every day, but on and off. I still do.
This is the confidence we have in approaching God:
that if we ask anything according to his will,
he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us
—whatever we ask—
we know that we have what we asked of him.
~ 1 John 5:14-15
God commands us to love Him (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37). If we pray according to His will, we know that He hears us and will grant it to us…so, praying for a deepening of my love for the Lord seems like a sure thing! 🙂 I like that kind of prayer!
2.) I look at my sin and acknowledge the incredible, extravagant price paid for my forgiveness and freedom from sin.
Some people don’t want to look at the things that they have “done wrong.” Certainly, I don’t mean beating myself up over it, but I DO mean refusing to be in denial or glossing over my sin. I am keenly aware that apart from the Lord in my life, I would even NOW become a VERY immoral woman. I would make Mary Magdalene look saintly.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon,
“Do you see this woman? I came into your house.
You did not give me any water for my feet,
but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered,
has not stopped kissing my feet.
You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.
Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—
as her great love has shown.
But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
~ Luke 7:44-47
Mary was deeply aware of the depths to which Jesus’ love and mercy reached to pull her out of the pit where she lived. Jesus says that the one who has been forgiven much, loves much. Frankly, we all have been forgiven much, but many of us “forget” that fact! Nurturing an awareness of what Jesus has forgiven in me is huge for me in stimulating a deeper devotion and appreciation for Him.
This, too, is something I ask the Lord for–to help me to see myself as He does–the sin *and* the provision for the sin, as well as the costly price paid for my freedom. As I look at what I was before I knew Jesus, the path I was on and what I was likely to become, as I see even daily how much my heart is drawn away from the Lord and that I constantly am in need of His grace and mercy, as I see what I would be if I was given over to my own fleshly tendencies–even for a day–I am deeply grateful for all He does for me. This stirs me to love the Lord even more.
3.) I listen to music (and sermons) that reminds me again and again of the attributes, acts, and love of my God and my love for Him.
I know that a lot of Christian people don’t like Christian music. I need Christian music. A lot. It is used by God as a lifeline to His presence for me. Music that specifically reminds me of the truth of God’s personality, His kindness, His power, His creativity, awesomeness, love…this focuses my attention on whatever is lovely, good, noble true (Philippians 4:8) and helps to foster a deep love for Him as well. I love it when I wake up in the night and have songs going through my mind that praise the Lord for who He is. Some of the songs on my favorite playlist on my iPod right now are:
Nothing Without You – Bebo Norman
Song for the Bride – Brian Doerksen
You’re Beautiful – Phil Wickham
Pour My Love on You – Philips, Craig, and Dean
King of Wonders – Matt Redman
Obviously, being in His Word and getting to know Him more, fostering an ongoing prayer life…these things are wonderfully helpful as well.
One other thing that has revolutionized my love for God is practicing gratitude. I have written about that here at length before, though. (If you want to see those posts, use the search feature to type in the word “gratitude” and you will see a bunch of posts that mention gratitude.)
How does loving God more relate to my views of food, eating, and my body? Simply, the more I grow in my devotion to the Lord, the less likely I am to retain anything for myself. I want to give myself away to Him for His purposes. I turn to Him to be more than enough and see that He meets me in my hunger and thirst. I don’t want to rebel by choosing excess in any area of my life. The more I love Him, the more I want to obey Him as an offering to Him (John 14:23).
There really does seem to be a lot of truth in the concept that if we continue to struggle to surrender our eating to the Lord, maybe we need to focus on deepening our knowledge of Him, His character and loving Him. As our love deepens, we want to abandon ourselves to Him…including in the area of eating. Maybe I get caught up in obedience in a legalistic way when what I need to do is be captivated by His love, His character and love Him in response. Somehow, I think that as I grow in that, the obedience may be more likely to follow.
